Stair flights are the most common means for enabling individuals to climb to (or descend from) different levels in residential and other buildings. The most popular alternatives—though much more expensive and not always practicable—are elevators or escalators.
It is the object of the invention to offer an alternative solution, particularly for the elderly or less-fit persons, who live in residential buildings, multi level apartments or family houses, where retrofitting of an elevator is not possible for economic or other reasons.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an array of substitutional stairs readily installable on top of any existing stair flight, converting it into a so to speak “one level walking” elevator.
The closest prior art known to the Applicant are systems specially tailored for the handicapped, i.e. those who need wheelchairs—cf. U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,773.